Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• David Staples questions whether Edmonton is really a city of risk takers in light of the wall of encouragement on Melcor’s 100th Street Place building. Todd Babiak wrote a letter in response. Here’s even more on the debate from Robin Mazumder. And here’s a look at “why and how the new mural came together” from Make Something Edmonton.
• Councillor Michael Oshry is considering a bid for the Alberta PC leadership. “What Alberta needs is a party that’s down the middle,” he told the Journal.
• Sanjay Shahani is the new Executive Director of the Edmonton Arts Council. Here’s a feature on Sanjay, who started in the role this week.
• Thorsten Goldberg has been selected to create a new piece of public art called 53°30’N for the new North East Transit Garage.
• Construction begins tomorrow on portions of the storm and sanitary service connections at Blatchford. The underground utility work is expected to take about 5 months.
• Emil covers a wide range of new projects taking place around the city in The Evolution of Edmonton. “From theatres to skyscrapers, Edmonton is evolving into a world class metro right before our eyes!”
• The City has introduced new landscaping requirements to ensure new homes have a minimum number of trees and shrubs and also to provide “an incentive to encourage Edmontonians to keep mature trees.”
• Downtown residents received notice of two proposed mega-bars this week. One in the Fox Tower 2 would be nearly 600 seats while the other, in the former Mother’s Music building, could hold 1,400 people.
• Alberta Venture has released its list of Alberta’s 50 Most Influential People of 2016. Nineteen Edmontonians made the list, including Daryl Katz, Connor McDavid, Rachel Notley, and Amarjeet Sohi.
• The City’s free summer drop-in programs are now underway and run weekdays until August 25, 2016. Last year, all drop-in programs received 565,000 visits.
• The Edmonton Public Library’s Jasper Place branch has won a 2016 Green Building Award. The LEED-certified building, designed by Hughes Condon Marler Architects, opened in 2013.
• From Dustin Bajer: “After two years of planting, the Edmonton food forest contains thousands of edible, native trees and shrubs that saskatoons, highbush cranberries, currants, elderberries, pin-cherries, chokecherries, beaked hazelnuts, and raspberries.” Now you can help plan for the third year on August 13!
• Disclosure statements from the 2016 Ward 12 By-Election were made available recently. Troy Pavlek put together a spreadsheet which shows that Moe Banga raised the most money at $78,890.
• The City’s Eco Stations program has received the Gold Excellence Award in the Special Waste category from the Solid Waste Association of North America.
• Dozens of people protested the pending demolition of the Cloverdale Footbridge today. More than 2,000 people use the bridge every day but they’ll have to find another route starting Monday when it closes to the public.
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

Upcoming Events

• The Edmonton International Street Performers Festival kicked off on Friday and continues all week at Churchill Square.
• Also continuing this week is the Freewill Shakespeare Festival at Hawrelak Park.
• The Edmonton Prospects have four home games this week – Tuesday and Friday they host the Yorkton Cardinals and Saturday & Sunday they host the Fort McMurray Giants.
• The City and the Oilers are hosting an Information Session for Residents and Businesses regarding Rogers Place on Wednesday.
• Families are encouraged to head out to Gold Bar Park on Wednesday evening for Family Nature Nights: Forest Fables.
• On Wednesday evening the next #YEGparity Speaker Series event takes place at ATB Place.
• Thursday evening is the opening ceremony for the Alberta Summer Games, taking place at the Leduc Recreation Centre.
• The 2016 TrackTown Classic takes place on Friday at Foote Field.
• Check out Centennial Plaza behind the Stanley Milner Library downtown on Saturday afternoon for some basketball with Full Court 21 Canada.
• Then head over to 104 Street in the evening for the 104th Street Auto Show.
• Don’t miss my roundup of summer festivals & events for 2016.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Edmonton International Street Performers Festival 2016, photo by IQRemix

I hope you had an excellent Canada Day long weekend! Now the countdown is on to celebrate our sesquicentennial. Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• This has to stop. “A 50-year-old woman is dead after being struck by a vehicle in a parking lot in north Edmonton.” Be sure to check out Glenn Kubish’s series on Vision Zero.
• The Oilers made a number of moves this week including the controversial trade of Taylor Hall to the Devils in exchange for defenceman Adam Larsson. They followed that up by signing goaltender Jonas Gustavsson and winger Milan Lucic. GM Peter Chiarelli feels that with the changes the Oilers have “improved our team signficantly.”
• The North by NorthGretz podcast says goodbye to Taylor Hall, OilersNation has a recap of all the changes and outlines what’s next, and I like what Maurice Tougas wrote about the trade: “The player, a defenceman named Adam Larsson, is the type of guy who isn’t even a household name in his own household.”
• Uber returned to Edmonton as of July 1! “We want to give a big thank you to riders, driver-partners, and community friends who supported us in our journey to bring reliable rides to Edmonton. We’re thrilled to be back on the road again!” Here’s an update on the TNC regulations from the Province.
• Council approved the 45 storey Emerald tower in Oliver this week. Here are Mayor Iveson’s thoughts on the matter.
• The City announced this week that it expects the 102 Avenue Bridge over Groat Road to open to traffic in early August, slightly ahead of the revised September schedule. “The City of Edmonton thanks the local businesses on 102 Avenue and 124 Street, residents, motorists and trail users for their patience.”
• The Edmonton Music Awards took place on Tuesday evening. Here’s a recap from Michael Senchuk over at Gig City.
• Also from Gig City, here’s a recap of the Fire Aid concert that raised more than $2 million for Fort McMurray fire relief.
• According to a new report, startup companies assisted by TEC Edmonton over the last five years have created 1,530 jobs and earned $680 million in revenue.
• The Government of Alberta has updated and expanded its sunshine list of salaries with data from 2015. “Government staff who earned more than $104,754 in the 2015 calendar year now have their compensation information posted online.”
• Is it just me or does the “imagine Jasper Avenue” project seem to be taking forever? I mean, I wrote about the New Visions initiative more than seven years ago. Anyway, three new interactive art pieces have been installed and Edmontonians are encouraged to sahe a picture with the hashtag #ImagineJasperAvenue.
• City of Edmonton outdoor pools are open for the season! Except the outdoor pool at Borden Park which remains closed for redevelopment.
• Did you see the “thankful” whiteboard that made the rounds online this week? It’s a few weeks old, but seemed to go viral (locally) this week.
• Planning a staycation in Edmonton? Here are ten things to do from Karlynn.
• More than 56,000 children were born in Alberta last year and once again the top names were Liam for boys and Olivia for girls. But it’s a very long tail. “The Vital Statistics branch of Service Alberta recorded 6,374 distinct boy names and 7,590 distinct girl names in 2015.”
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

Upcoming Events

• Sand on Whyte continues all week in Old Strathcona.
• The Freewill Shakespeare Festival continues in Hawrelak Park featuring Love’s Labour’s Lost and Romeo and Juliet.
• The Historic Festival & Doors Open Edmonton kicked off today and continues all week at various locations throughout the city.
• This year’s edition of The Works Art & Design Festival wraps up on Tuesday.
• Wednesday is the 2016 Athletics Canada Hall of Fame Gala & Annual Awards Celebration taking place at the Delta Edmonton South.
• You’ve got two options for patios on Thursday! The Shaw Conference Centre is hosting another patio party at the Hall D patio, and of course the summer patio series continues at Latitude 53.
• The 2016 edition of the Edmonton International Street Performers Festival kicks off on Friday at Churchill Square.
• The Whyte Avenue Art Walk runs Friday through Sunday on the streets of Old Strathcona.
• I hope to see you Friday night at Northlands Park for our next What the Truck?! in conjunction with Park After Dark! Here are the menus.
• Also Friday night, the Eskimos host the Roughriders at Commonwealth Stadium.
• Color Me Rad takes place Saturday morning at Capilano Park.
• If you missed the Meet Me in McCauley Market last month, you have another chance on Saturday!
• Over in St. Albert, the Seven Music Festival takes place on Saturday.
• For even more summer festivals & events, be sure to check out my guide for 2016!
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Premier joins in Canada Day celebrations, photo by Premier of Alberta

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• Will we ever find out how much the many issues plaguing the Metro Line LRT cost us? Maybe not, because the City is preparing to make a claim against signalling vendor Thales which will follow a private dispute resolution process.
• WestJet announced a series of new routes this week, including new non-stop service between Edmonton and Hamilton. The new route will run four times weekly from July through September. Also, flights between Edmonton and Vancouver will now operate 54 times weekly.
• The Oilers announced their 2016-2017 season schedule this week. The home opener will take place on October 12 against the Calgary Flames.
• In the 2016 NHL Draft the Oilers made nine selections, including Jesse Puljujarvi at 4th overall. Here’s a roundup from The Copper & Blue.
• Summer bus schedules started today, with major adjustments for routes 5, 15, 44, 69, 96, 125 and 127.
• Paula wrote about the impact of sky-rocketing policing costs for events and the ridiculous way we treat some of our marquee festivals.
• The City of Edmonton’s new Youth Poet Laureate is Nasra Adem. She will serve a one-year term.
• Edmonton has been named Canada’s National Earth Hour Capital. Our city last won the award in 2014.
• Edmonton came in at number four on the Amazon.ca list of Canadian Cities that Love to Read, behind Vancouver, Calgary, and Saskatoon. “Canada’s western cities of Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton purchased the most Kindle titles over the past year.”
• The west side of the High Level Bridge is going to be closed for most of July to accommodate the safety rail installation.
• The City held a community workshop last week on the 101 Avenue Vision & Corridor Study. The draft vision and study will be developed over the summer.
• From The Wanderer, here are six resources available to Edmonton entrepreneurs.
• WIND Mobile recently completed a major network infrastructure upgrade in Edmonton which should mean “better network coverage, faster data speeds and improved call quality.”
• Cool infographic from MacEwan on the class of 2016.
• The University of Alberta Board of Governors has appointed Gitta Kulczycki to the position of vice-president (finance and administration) and Andrew Sharman to the position of vice-president (facilities and operations).
• Edmonton has fallen short in its bid to host the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in 2019. Lausanne won the bid.
• The City is once again encouraging Edmontonians to go bagless this summer! If you sign up for a lawn sign you could win a mulching mower or other prizes.
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

What’s left of the former downtown Greyhound station

Upcoming Events

• The Works continues this week downtown, anchored in Churchill Square.
• The Edmonton International Jazz Festival continues this week at various locations throughout the city.
• The Freewill Shakespeare Festival is taking place at Hawrelak Park.
• For the first time the Winspear Centre is hosting the 2016 Edmonton Music Awards on Tuesday evening.
• The Edmonton Prospects host the Regina Red Sox on Tuesday and the Melville Millionaires on Sunday.
• The Fire Aid for Fort McMurray benefit concert is taking place on Wednesday at Commonwealth Stadium. The tailgate party starts at 2pm with the concert getting underway at 5pm.
• Thursday is busy as always, with the Latitude 53 Patio and 124 Grand Market, among other events. Let’s hope they get some decent weather this week!
• Friday is Canada Day! There are events throughout the city, with the main fireworks finale taking place at 11pm in the river valley.
• The Historic Festival & Doors Open Edmonton kicks off on Sunday.
• Also be sure to check out my guide to summer festivals & events for 2016!
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

Bay/Enterprise Square LRT Station

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• City Council has decided to explore the possibility of transferring the Drainage Services Utility to EPCOR. A third party consideration and full report will be back to Council in late October for review.
• In the latest issue of The Yards, Celia Shea examines the Living Bridge three years after it started. “It is one the city’s finest examples of urban intervention, but it is not without its controversies.”
• Former mayor Stephen Mandel received an honorary doctor of laws degree this week at the University of Alberta.
• Douglas R. Stollery was sworn in as the University of Alberta’s 21st Chancellor. You can read his convocation address from June 15.
• Construction has begun on the $186 million ETS Northeast Transit Garage located at the corner of Yellowhead Trail and Fort Road. “With more than 500,000 square feet (the equivalent of 10 football fields), the future garage will replace the 55-year-old Westwood Transit Garage.”
• The City of Edmonton Youth Council is now accepting applications for new members. There are 12 vacancies for the upcoming term and the deadline to apply is July 17.
• Jason Foster reports that the City is working on a bylaw change similar to one recently passed in Calgary that could make it easier to open a small craft brewery.
• The Edmonton Oilers announced their 2016-2017 pre-season schedule this week. They kick off the season on September 26 with home-and-home games against Calgary.
• Although the east sidewalk on the High Level Bridge is reopening this week, congestion could still be a problem as the new barriers have reduced the width of available space from 2.8 meters to 2.3 meters.
• IKEA announced it is investing $28 million in Alberta with expansions at both its Edmonton and Calgary locations. Construction begins in July and is expected to be complete by next summer.
• Here’s an update from Matthew Dance on the Naming Edmonton project: “We have geo-coded all of the names in the dataset! Thank-you to those who have contributed time and effort to make that happen!”
• The Edmonton Food Council is looking for four new members to be part of the team starting in September. Join us!
• If you’re looking for co-work space in Edmonton, check out this post from The Local Good.
• Congratulations to the recipients of the 2016 Salute to Excellence Awards!
• Here’s a great recap of the #100in1Day activities that took place around Edmonton a couple of weeks ago.
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

Weekend Strolling, photo by IQRemix

Upcoming Events

• Monday is the longest day of the year! There’s a big celebration planned at the Mosaic Centre. You can of course share your day using #YEGlongday on social media.
• This year’s Summer Solstice Festival starts Monday and runs through June 28 at various locations.
• There’s an open house taking place Monday evening about the proposed surface parking lot north of Rogers Place. Councillor McKeen is skeptical.
• Tuesday is National Aboriginal Day! There are events happening throughout the city, including a festival in Borden Park from 11am until 9pm.
• Improvaganza continues this week at the Citadel Theatre. Saturday is the final day!
• This year’s Freewill Shakespeare Festival starts on Tuesday at Hawrelak Park with performances of Love’s Labour’s Lost and Romeo and Juliet.
• The Works Art & Design Festival kicks off on Thursday at various locations downtown but with Churchill Square as home base. The Golden Summer Gala takes place on Friday at the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald.
• Head over to TEC Edmonton for lunch on Thursday to hear about the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Alberta Report.
• Latitude 53’s Patio Series continues on Thursday evening!
• The Found Festival takes place from Thursday through Sunday in Old Strathcona at Dr. Wilbert McIntyre Park.
• Friday is the kick off for the 2016 Edmonton International Jazz Festival.
• The Eskimos host the Ottawa REDBLACKS on Saturday evening at Commonwealth Stadium!
• Doing some spring cleaning? The City is hosting another Big Bin Event on the weekend at Rexall Place.
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

New Pedway Bridge connecting Manulife Place & the Kelly Ramsey Building

Here are my weekly Edmonton notes:

Headlines

• Fallen police officer Constable Daniel Woodall was honoured this week by naming the park at 7304 South Terwillegar Drive after him. “The park includes a new soccer pitch, in recognition of Constable Woodall’s love of soccer. It also features an Autumn Blaze Maple Tree planted with compost created from the flowers given to police after Constable Woodall’s death.” Read more about Constable Dan Woodall and the park here. Here’s a photo of the official sign.
• EPCOR has submitted a proposal to Council to consider transferring the City’s Drainage Services Utility to EPCOR. Council will consider the request on June 14 and if they decide to proceed with a review, a final decision could be made later this year. “EPCOR projects that its annual dividend to the City can be increased by about $20 million immediately following a transfer.”
• The Advisory Panel on Metro Edmonton’s Future released its report this week. The report includes three recommendations and “concludes that the Edmonton Metro Region can position itself to attract jobs and investment in today’s increasingly complex global marketplace – but only if it takes steps to better leverage its opportunities and build the regional systems that other competitive regions offer today.”
• A ground-breaking ceremony was held on Friday for the new Alex Decoteau Park located on the northwest corner for 105 Street and 102 Avenue. Can’t wait for this one to open next year! You can learn more about Alex Decoteau here.
• The City is looking for feedback on new River Valley Park signs that have been installed at Gold Bar Park. You can fill out the online survey until July 22.
• Small business owners have a new way to access permitting and licensing thanks to the new Small Business Open Window program that the City launched this week.
• Non-profit, social services, and learning organizations are now invited to submit expressions of interest for leasing space at the MacEwan West Universty Campus community hub. Submissions close July 29.
• The Reuse Centre has won an Emerald Award for environmental excellence in the Government Institution category. The City’s Master Naturalist Program was a finalist in another category.
• At the 2016 Prairie Design Awards, the City won two awards of excellence for the Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre and the John Fry Sports Park Pavilion. It also received awards of merit for the Borden Park Pavilion, Mill Woods Park Pavilion, and Edmonton Military Commemorative Monument.
• As part of Bike Month, the ETS Peace Officer Bike Patrol is returning. “Over approximately four months in 2015, the Transit Peace Officer Bike Patrol responded to 962 calls (or an average of eight calls per day), including 574 planned events and 388 incidents, ranging from alarms to misdemeanors to trespassing on LRT tracks.”
• Abundant Community Edmonton “is now ready to be implemented in any Edmonton neighbourhood.” There are currently 22 participating neighbourhoods in our city.
• You have until June 27 to complete this survey on the Mature Neighbourhood Overlay review. The review is action 17 on Edmonton’s Infill Roadmap.
• And if you’re still not surveyed-out, fill out this online survey on traffic safety culture by July 8.
• From Vintage Edmonton, here’s a great collection of Hotel Macdonald history.
• Congratulations to City Hall School on another very successful Citizenship Fair!
• The 29th annual Sterling Award nominations were announced this week. The awards will be given out at a gala event on June 27.
• Premier Rachel Notley issued a statement today on the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida: “Albertans join with people everywhere in offering our thoughts and prayers to the victims, their families, partners and loved ones who are suffering this moment.”
• Mayor Iveson and the City of Edmonton also tweeted their thoughts and shared that the High Level Bridge will show PRIDE colors tonight in support.
• For more recent headlines, check out ShareEdmonton.

The new Walterdale Bridge

Upcoming Events

• The Government of Alberta is hosting two workshops on Monday (AM, PM) at the Chateau Louis to discuss the proposed amendments to the Municipal Government Act.
• The next Capital Ideas Edmonton event takes place on Wednesday at the Edmonton Journal. It’ll be business not as usual!
• Improvaganza kicks off on Wednesday at the Citadel Theatre!
• The City is hosting two public events at City Hall on Thursday to discuss Breathe, the new Green Network Strategy. Check it out during the lunch hour or in the evening from 5:30pm-8pm.
• Homeward Trust is hosting its annual Stakeholder Reception on Thursday starting at 4pm.
• Also Thursday evening: Latitude 53’s Patio series returns!
• CKUA’s Party in the Park takes place on Friday afternoon. They’re hosting tours every 15 minutes.
• Head over to the Mercer Warehouse on Friday night for the Mercer Summer Super Party!
• Porkapalooza takes place Friday through Sunday at Clarke Park!
• The Saskatchewan Roughriders are in town on Saturday afternoon for a pre-season game against the Edmonton Eskimos!
• Also Saturday afternoon at Henry Martell Park is the Highlandia Festival.
• I hope you’ll join us on Saturday evening at Blatchford Tower for our next What the Truck?! event! Bring a donation for the food bank and you can go up inside the tower to get an awesome view of downtown Edmonton.
• Also taking place Saturday evening is Zoo Fest, a fundraising event in support of the Valley Zoo.
• Check out even more summer festivals & events in my annual listing!
• For more upcoming events, check out ShareEdmonton.

On the Edge, photo by Dave Sutherland